Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Heatwave

There isn't anything special about this story of this film. In fact for the most part you wander around through the film waiting for the end. But I must also add that the beautiful Dale Midkiff who plays the lead as Detective Steve Carella is much, much better suited for this role than Randy Quaid ever was. Not only is her perfect and should get more roles, he has a believable sympathy for the rape victims that are being preyed on for the second time by a serial rapist. The rapist is shown to us, but we do not know WHO he is, even though we see his face. I think that the last twist was fairly well thought out, and a nice touch. Erika Eliniak playing the only female detective we see in the whole film-rather unrealistic I think-does a very good job. She is a good actress, and very under-appreciated. The relationships between the detectives are realistic enough, also is the hatred for the media which ironically weaves into unlocking the riddle of who the rapist is. Motive is what is lacking. I suppose they were just going for the old "He's a psycho" reason. Good movie. If you get a chance to see it on TV watch it. If only to look at the gorgeous Dale Midkiff for two hours.

Like one reviewer pointed out Kling needed Haviland or Fat Ollie giving him one upside the head. And Meyer suffers in comparison to Norman Fell.

Too bad they couldn't drop Carella and Kling off the roof and see if either could act their way to the ground. At least Carella might have lost that freaky whispering if he screamed loud enough. A fairly watchable movie but nowhere near the quality of the TV series.

I guess you could falsify reports but with Andy Parker working there it won't be long before Lt. Burns is at least transferred. Kling is the kind of cop that gives all cops a bad name. Not sure why Carella has that weird whisper but it was rather creepy,This movie needed Roger Havilland or Fat Ollie to smack Kling upside his head and help Mayer do his job. As always the quintessential Teddy was the center of action.

Seems like a Detective would just follow Teddy and wait for the bad guy to show up.

It's a shame that "Heatwave" is not better known, because it is quite possibly the film where Erika Eleniak makes the transition from busty sex symbol to legitimate actress. Playing a cop whose anxiousness to prove her worth leads her to a traumatic experience, Eleniak disappears into the character almost completely. The same goes for the rest of the cast - they may not be very well-known, but they fit their characters. Written and directed in a very tight, economic (and admittedly "TV-ish", with lots of close-ups) style, the film is sometimes exciting (especially in a foot chase in the middle) and sometimes hard to watch (intentionally, due to the nature of the story). The only part of which the significance I still haven't completely figured out is a secondary murder/bigamy case that the detectives are investigating. Maybe it was just added to give more of a "documentary on the daily cop life" feel to the production. *** out of 4.

After enjoying the predecessor to this movie I anticipated another intriguing thriller but all I could do is complain about all the stupid moves that the cops made. The music again was great but the cinematography was not good, too many zoomed in shots which later on in the film were not as prevalent. The acting was not as good as the Lightning production but not terrible. They also failed to to bring the "Heatwave" aspect out to full effect. I just wonder why the 2nd film is so much worse than the first. What's up with that? 5.4/10.